


Pure White, Ruby Red

by IDontHaveAUsername1



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-22
Updated: 2015-05-29
Packaged: 2018-03-31 17:04:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3985984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IDontHaveAUsername1/pseuds/IDontHaveAUsername1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Over and over, Marissa has accompanied the world's greatest heroes on their quests to save the world and this time is no different. Except it's their fault this time. Tony Stark tries to create a suit of armour around the world in the form of Ultron but they messed with something they shouldn't have and now they must fix it.</p>
<p>Marissa is as committed to the cause as ever but things are becoming strained with the team. Some time in the future she may have to make a choice about where she stands</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

“Faster,” Marissa breathed.

“You sure?” Tony Stark, her research partner, ex-sort of-boss and fellow Avenger, asked from the control panel.

The Avengers were all watching Marissa run on Stark’s special treadmill from their various places in the Avengers Tower, formally known as Stark Tower. The whole thing had gotten a reboot, meaning all the walls were made of glass. As fancy as it looked now, it didn’t feel like home anymore.

Marissa Pierce loved running. Correction – she loved speed. The feel of her hair whipping against her face, watching the world pass by in a blur, spiralling towards the ground after being dropped out of a plane… the whole thing was thrilling. Out of this world. She was a fast runner for a human. She used that to her advantage during a fight.  
It was something she and Tony had been working on for a while, seeing how fast she could go. Every day Tony would start the treadmill at one kilometre an hour and they’d go from there. In the past six months they’d been doing it, Marissa a progressed so well that she hardly broke a sweat. Tony liked to experiment on her a lot – not harmful stuff, but it was interesting enough.

The reason Marissa was the only one not suited up was because the team had finally located Loki Sceptre. They’d been searching ever since SHIELD fell and they’d caught intelligence that HYDRA possessed it somewhere in Sokovia. Today they were going to retrieve it. Marissa didn’t know much about Sokovia, except they were almost at war, or at least they thought they were. The protesters for social justice were becoming more and more rowdy, and more and more extreme. 

The machine beeped twice as Tony increased the speed. Marissa felt it immediately and pumped her arms faster.

“Congratulation, Miss Pierce, you are currently running at the same speed as our righteous saviour, Captain America,” Tony said. “You done proving you belong in this testosterone filled environment yet? Because we can’t leave until you’re all suited up and right now you’re wearing track pants. I refuse to let you leave this building wearing track pants.”

Marissa huffed. She placed her hands on the side of treadmill and placed her feet on the sides quickly. The belt slowed as she turned towards Tony and said, “Does he ever stop talking, JARVIS?” 

JARVIS’ familiar mechanical voice sounded from the surround sound system. “From personal experience, Miss Pierce, no he does not.”

“Traitor,” Tony called to the A.I. “Just go suit up, Pierce. We leave in ten.”

##  
There was a lot more HYDRA soldiers defending Strucker’s HYDRA institute than they had planned. Like, frighteningly more. They’d called Code Green ten minutes ago and while Banner’s Other Guy was indeed capable at compassion occasionally, he really was good at taking people out of the equation. Marissa just didn’t appreciate having people thrown at her is all.

Natasha swerved the car just in time to save the blue jet of light from hitting Marissa in the face. The gunfire was deafening and they had to shout to be heard. The men were barking orders in a language Marissa had to assume was Russian or Sokovian.

“Thanks!” 

“You’re welcome!” Natasha yelled back, her voice straining with the effort of steering the car on such uneven, snowy ground.

“Marissa, a little firepower here!” Clint requested, letting arrow after arrow fly from him bow.

“Got it!” 

Marissa stood back up in the passenger seat and shot at the vehicle approaching them from the left. She fired the guns in each hand one after the other, but only taking out the two men in the back seat. Clint got the last guy in the arm and the vehicle slowly went off to the side, retreating.

She went to reload her guns, idly watching Steve deflect another beam of light with his shield, when a two guys managed to jump onto each side. Natasha kicked one in the stomach and Marissa punched the other hard enough to make him lose his balance and fall to the ground. There was a sickening crunch as Natasha ran over his arm.

“Brutal,” Marissa muttered. Tony passed overhead, moving towards the Institute.

There was a wooshing sound as Thor wound up his hammer and hit a guy in the truck behind them who was about to hit them with another blue beam. Another two guys got bullets in the chest as Thor flew up to a watch tower and kicked the three men off with pain stricken yells. He then grabbed the fourth, who was flying towards him using a jet pack, out of the sky and threw him away like a tin can. 

Marissa turned back to the fight as Thor began to hit the men with a large piece of metal and Steve on his motorcycle began dragging a man by the arm along the ground. The Hulk’s roars could be heard as he threw men around like they were toothpicks.

“To your left!” Clint warned.

Instinctively, Natasha leaned as far back in her seat as she could as Marisaa shot the men sidling up to them. She fired four shots, and four men went down. It was almost too easy, although, she guessed that was the point of teaming up.

Trees were coming down around them as HYDRA forces shot at them and missed. There was so much machine gun fire that Marissa was surprised they hadn’t been shot yet while everyone else was dropping like rocks.

There was another vehicle behind them that Clint was dealing with, so Marissa took the one coming from their left. She easily detached a grenade from her belt, pulled the ring and threw it at the incoming enemy truck. It must have hit its mark because seconds later it blew up in a massive ball of fiery orange, taking the few soldiers surrounding it down with it.  
All seven Avengers were all in the same little stretch of land as their car approached five metres of barbed wire defences. Just in time, Natasha pulled the car horizontal to the wire.

“Jump!” Marissa yelled.

Marissa used the head of the passenger seat to give her a boost, and flipped out of the car and over the barber wire. The rest of the Avengers had followed her example and they all crossed to the other side together.

The firing didn’t cease as Marissa landed in a graceful roll. She came up on one knee, held out her arms and fired at the oncoming group of men. She managed to hit 12 of them before she ran out of bullets. As if she could somehow make them work again, Marissa knocked them against each other a few times before muttering, “Crap,” and ditching them.  
Steve, Tony and the Hulk were already ahead of the others. Marissa pulled out her electrical batons and turned them on, and began running forward, easily knocking out every man who tried to get in her way with a single jab.

There was another explosion far ahead in the distance that shook the ground. When the smoke cleared, Marissa could see Iron Man fly towards the HYDRA institute, dodging the jets of light. It looked as if he was going to be successful when something invisible stopped him.

“Shit!” Tony swore, everyone hearing it through the coms.

“Language!” Steve said. Marissa couldn’t help smirking. Until the new wave of soldiers with alien weapons moved towards them. “JARVIS, what’s the view from upstairs?”

Marissa whipped her baton across someone’s face as Thor jumped down on someone else from a tree.

“The central building seems to be protected by some kind of energy shield. Strucker’s technology is well in front of any of the other HYDRA bases you’ve taken.”

Marissa elbowed a man in the face before kicking another in the crotch. “That’s reassuring,” she commented.

“Loki’s sceptre must be here,” Thor said, calling Mjolnir back to him and throwing him again. Marissa slid through some guy’s leg, ran a few paces before throwing another grenade behind her. “Strucker couldn’t build this defence without it.” Mjolnir soared back to Thor again as she approached, but he let it fly past him to knock into another agent with a dull thud. “At long last,” he said.

She barely nodded before saying, “Incoming.” Two men were running towards them. Thor and Marissa had been fighting together ever since he’d first come to Earth so neither had to think of what to do next.

Thor flung the hammer at one man and then grabbed Marissa by the arms and flung her towards the second one. She wrapped her legs around his neck and twisted, snapping the bones and easily landing on her hands and rolling again.

“A long last is lasting a little long, boys,” Natasha said in her ear.

“Yeah, I think we lost the element of surprise,” Clint sounded.

“I dunno,” she said, retrieving her dagger from someone’s chest. “Who doesn’t like a little flare? I’m sure HYDRA appreciated the effort.”

“Wait a second,” Tony interrupted. “No one else is gonna deal with the fact Cap just said ‘language’?”

“I know,” Steve answered in a self-deprecating tone. There was the roar of an engine and another explosion before he finished, “It just slipped out.”

##

“Marissa, you want to help me out here? They’re sending out the big guns,” Clint asked, unsettled.

“Where are you?” she asked without hesitation.

“One hundred metres to your eight o’clock.”

“Give me thirty seconds.”

She was by his side in twenty-seven. Clint drew his arm back and released the arrow and before he could turn and take on the man sneaking up behind him, Marissa had jabbed her Taser into his neck.

The man jerked and shuddered uncontrollably as the electricity surged through his veins. Marissa turned off the Taser. The man dropped to the floor. Her nose crinkled as the vague smell of something burnt.

“Tasering,” she said curtly, holding the weapon up. “Disgusting at times, but effective.”

By way of answering he said, “Is it just me, or are they beginning to hone in on us? Duck.”

Marissa dropped and rolled, back on her feet in an instant as Clint shot an explosive arrow at an oncoming armoured vehicle.

“Huh,” she said casually with a furrowed brow. “It’s not just you.”

Marissa swapped her batons out for good old fashioned hand to hand combat as the next few men approached. The men readied themselves as she approached, but two had arrows in the heart in a second. The next three weren’t hard for Marissa to take out.

The men met her on the snowy battlefield halfway. One man went straight for her neck so she intercepted and twisted until the man’s wrist shattered. She kept a hold of the screaming man and side kicked another in the crotch. 

“Sir, the city is taking fire,” informed JARVIS.

The man with the shattered wrist dropped when she landed a right hook across his cheek. The last man grunted as he aimed a punch at her stomach. Marissa grabbed his wrist and pushed him back -hard. He was distracted enough that Marissa was able to grab the second man by the neck and twist, before returning back to him and sweeping her heel across his nose. 

“Well we know Strucker’s not gonna worry about civilian casualties,” Tony said grimly. “Send in the Armed Legion.”

Instinctively, Marissa ducked when another explosion went off fifty feet from where she was standing. The source was a bunker of sorts that was planted into the ground. They had moved close enough to set off the motion detectors. It was now spewing machine gun fire at anything that moved. The HYRDA men were staying just out of range, barking orders in Sokovian. 

Marissa followed Clint’s lead and hid behind a tree. The trees in this forest weren’t exactly thick and even Marissa’ tiny body could only just be sheltered. They both stayed very still, very quiet. Marissa could turn her head to the left just enough to watch Clint skilfully, draw the arrow back and release.

It was a sure fire hit. Clint’s arrow was rocketed towards the barrel of HYRDA weapon. It should have blown the whole thing up, but it didn’t, because something stopped it.  
A metre from its target the arrow disappeared along with the silver slipstream that had passed at the same time. It had come and gone in less than a second, faster than the speed of light.

Marissa and Clint both leaned back against their trees, both with completely opposite expressions. Marissa, gobsmacked and confused; Clint, vaguely enraged and determined.

‘What the hell was that?” Marissa hissed.

Clint shook his head once and rushed to fire another arrow at the bunker. But the arrow never left the quiver.

Marissa felt a small breeze pass by her ear and then something rammed into Clint’s shoulder, sending him flying forward, twisting a few times in the air.

There was a thud as Clint landed on the mound of snow. He began to prop himself up, Marissa heading towards him when something made her freeze in her tracks.

It wasn’t a ‘something’, it was a someone who had been stopping their attacks on the bunker. And by someone, Marissa meant a young man, not much older than she, in a tracksuit and hair whiter than the snow they were standing on, adorning smirk so arrogant and self-assured that Marissa wanted to slap it off his face.

The man appeared almost out of nowhere with that mocking expression. His stride did not break as he spoke with a rich Sokovian accent that dripped with confidence. “You didn’t see that coming?” he taunted. A few steps later, he had disappeared again. With a start, Marissa release he wasn’t just disappearing, but he was running.

Clint jumped to his feet and aimed his bow in the Sokovian’s direction, his face filled with frustration. 

“There’s no point,” Marissa said, her eyes darting around the area, poised on her toes. “He’s gone.”

Almost violently, Clint moved his bow back to his side. “I know. And we both know that you won’t be able to cat-“

A powerful jet of light from the still active bunker cut him off, grazing the side of his stomach. With a grunt of pain, Clint fell to the floor.

“Clint!” Marissa heard from her right. Natasha was racing towards them but Marissa was at Clint’s side in a heartbeat.

Marissa ducked as the explosions rained down on them. “Shit, shit, shit,” she muttered as she caught a glimpse of the wound. There was a massive chunk of flesh blasted from his body. Marissa lightly pushed his head back onto the ground, where he was straining to see the injury.

“We have an enhanced on the field,” Steve came through the coms.

“Really?” Marissa asked, her sarcasm falling flat with the stress. “We hadn’t noticed.”

Natasha slid towards them to avoid the fire and called, “Clint’s hit!”, hand to her ear. “Someone wanna deal with that bunker?” Natasha asked, placing some snow over Clint’s ribcage.

There was a massive roar that shook the ground as the Hulk came barrelling through the forest. He grabbed two of the soldiers in his meaty first and continued on to walk straight through the bunker, sending pieces of machinery flying amidst the screams of Hulk’s victims.

“Thank you,” Natasha squeaked.

Marissa was on shifting her weight back and forth from the balls of her feet to the tips of her toes. Desperately, she wanted to run after the mysterious enhanced. Partly, because she was curious about his ‘power’ but mainly because he had screwed with Clint. 

Clint groaned and Natasha pushed him back again. “Marissa? Some help here?” Natasha asked. Marissa didn’t answer. There was a pause as Natasha took in Marissa’s eager expression and taut limbs. “Go.”

“What?”

“If you’re going to go find the enhanced, go now. And try and catch a ride to help Stark. Make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”

Marissa’s only indication that she’d heard was the harsh padding of snow as she ran off.  
##


	2. Chapter Two

The weird thing about Sokovia was that there was hardly any breeze. Which is why Marissa knew he was here. She’d reached a clearing, not too far from the HYDRA fortress, when she felt the tell tale whisper against her ear. And then against her other ear. Almost as if he were doing circles around her in a clockwise direction.

Marissa was generally impulsive, as she was going to start baiting him to come out when there was a small crackle in her ear as her fellow teammates began to talk. The whizzing didn’t stop, but Marissa could tell the enhanced was listening.

“Stark, we really need to get inside,” Steve said amidst the sound of his vibranium shield banging into things.

“I’m closing in,” Tony reported.

Marissa lifted her hand to her ear and began to speak. “Tony, I’m standing by approximately six hundred metres from the fortress. Give me the word and I’ll make my way up there for backup.”

“That would be great, but I’ll have to get rid of the damn force field first,” he said. “JARVIS, do you mind closing in? Do you see a power source for that shield?”

“There’s a power source above the north tower,” JARVIS answered.

“Great, I’m gonna poke it with something.”

Marissa rolled her eyes. “Be careful. Tell me when you’re ready.”

She got a “mm-hmm” in response.

Marissa removed the hand from her ear and adopted a mischievous glint in her eyes. The part about interrogations and getting into people’s heads was a talent of hers and she was going to thoroughly enjoys this.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” she sang, casually walking forwards, he toes digging under the snow. She kept a watchful gaze though. “I know you’re out there. My Spidey senses are tingling.”

For just a moment, Marissa had an epiphany – she really was a bitch sometimes. However, that thought was interrupted when the enhanced zoomed past her left, and then her right again. Marissa knew she wouldn’t be able to catch him (which annoyed her to great lengths) so she anticipated his next move.

Marissa threw her left arm straight out. Usually she was strong enough to blow the attacker right off their feet. Apparently, when you’re faster than the speed of light, you’re much stronger and when the man blew past, her arm got snapped forward.

Pain erupted in her shoulder, blooming through her joints. It was almost crippling. Marissa let out a loud moan before biting her lip. “Oh, that’s definitely dislocated,” she breathed, trying to control the pain. She raised her voice, “Son of a bitch!”

A small chuckle sounded from the clearing. The rich Sokovian accent filled her ears as he said mockingly, “Does that hurt? It looks like it hurts.”

Marissa spun around, releasing the grip on her arm and standing up straight again. Moment of weakness was over. Like a good little SHIELD agent, Marissa compartmentalized her pain and returned to the task at hand. She was just a little angrier now.

“It’s not nice to mock injured people,” she said with a steely voice. “It’s the mark of a coward. Why don’t you come and face me yourself? Grow a pair of balls?”

The com in her ear crackled. “Stop taunting the enhanced, Pierce. That’s not the mission,” Steve commanded. “Go find Stark.”

“Yeah,” Tony chimed in. “I could use some back up now.”

“I’m busy,” Marissa growled. She hit the button on her com to silence it. She began to turn in a circle, hoping to catch a glimpse. “So what about it, huh? Face me like a real man? Or is that not your style? I apologize to all tween boys when I say that facial hair is not a sign of masculinity.”

He laughed again. There were two more zooms around her head before her appeared, leaning casually against the tree in front of her. Correction: he was pretending to be casual.   
Marissa had successfully managed to bruise his ego. “Is this what the mighty Avengers have to offer, Marissa Pierce? A few taunts and some mean words.”

Marissa inched closer. She smiled slyly. “Aww. You know my name. Saw me on TV didn’t you? What’s yours? I mean, it’s only fair isn’t it?”

“You are trying to get me to give you information, but I won’t.” Marissa’s contempt was growing with every arrogant word out of his mouth. “As a ‘secret agent’ you suck.”  
That’s it. She’d had enough. “Yeah? Well, suck on this.” 

Marissa used his shock to her advantage and leaped forward, punching him across the face. She brought her foot back to kick his knee cap (‘let’s see him run away when his right kneecap is shattered beyond repair,’ she thought nastily) but there was nothing to kick except air.  
Before Marissa could process anything at all, there was two fingered tap on her good shoulder. When she spun around, there was the Enhanced. He gave her a cocky smirk before punching her right back. His speed made her teeth rattle. Marissa grabbed his shoulder and kneed him twice in the stomach.

The man looked as if he was going to stay and fight, but something changed in his eyes, like he’d forgotten something very important. Marissa knew he was going to whisk himself away and she’d lose her chance at getting at him. Well, Natasha had told her to catch a ride to the compound, so a fraction of a second before he took off, Marissa dug her nails into the fabric of his jacket.

Surprisingly, the fabric didn’t rip as he dashed away and accidently carried her with him. It only took him two seconds to shake her off, but he was speedy enough that those two seconds delivered her halfway up the massive staircase to Strucker’s HYRDA fortress.

Marissa groaned as she was dropped on the stairs. The impact caused her shoulder to jolt. The stairs dug into her back, leaving horizontal markings across her back. The enhanced was gone. Where? She didn’t know. But what she did know was that she had never been more frustrated with anyone except maybe for Tony when he’d tried to hide he was dying from her. 

Marissa reluctantly pushed herself up off the ground and began to slump up the stairs, clutching her arm. She turned her com back on and said, “I’ve lost sight of the enhanced. Only minor injuries. I’m almost inside Struckers base now.”

“Whenever you say you have minor injuries,” Natasha said, “you’ve usually dislocated something.”

Marissa paused. “Shut up, Natasha,” she said childishly.

Steve’s voice came through the com. “Pierce? Are you good to carry on?”

“Well, I’m not dead, so yes.”

“Good. I’m almost at the base now but you need to get to Stark for back up, just in case. Strucker and the doctor are still inside so be careful.”

“Copy that,” Marissa said, hitting the last landing and beginning to jog towards the hulking metal door. Seeing as it had a hole through the middle, she assumed that was a good   
place to look first.

“And Pierce?” Steve added. “Don’t ever turn your com off again. Got it?”

“Yessir.”

##

For the first time ever, Marissa stepped into a room full of men and was left entirely alone. Of course, half were dead, a few unconscious and about three moaning in pain. 

Marissa walked up to a conscious one and grabbed a tuft of hair dangerously hard. She ignored the moan of pain. “Looks like you had a good talk with Iron Man, huh?”  
“It really wasn’t,” came a whine behind her.

Marissa couldn’t help but smirk slightly. “Which way did he go?” she asked politely. The man she was holding mumbled unintelligently in Sokovian. “Sorry. I don’t speak Sokovian. English would be nice.”

The man shot her a murderous glare before spitting, “Go fuck yourself.”

Marissa raised an eyebrow. “Guess I’ll just have to find him myself.” 

The man’s lip curled cruelly but before he could say anything, Marissa slammed his forehead back onto the concrete, knocking him out cold.

“Anyone else want to piss me off?” she asked. “Because I’ve had a bad day.”

“We have a second enhanced. Female. Do not engage,” Steve said through her earpiece.

The only answer was the man who had spoken before. “The Iron Man went through that door. That is all I know, I swear.”

“What can you tell me about the enhanced?” Marissa snapped.

The man’s face went an even paler shade of green. “I – I Don’t know about any Twins. Please, don’t hurt me,” he stuttered.

“I didn’t say anything about any ‘twins’,” Marissa said. The man still didn’t answer, and while she wanted to find out about the enhanced, she had more important issues to be attending to.

Marissa walked out the door without so much as a thank you.

##

The room Marissa stepped into couldn’t exactly be called a research room. The room only contained a few things – a hard drive hooked up to half a dozen screens, a few secure containers and, Tony Stark’s Iron Man suit standing sentry next to the computers.

The suit swung towards as soon as she was detected, the beam of light on its palm lighting up slightly before dimming again, recognising her. JARVIS greeted her, “Hello, Miss Pierce.”

“Sup’ JARVIS?” Marissa responded numbly as she walked towards the computer desk. File after file was popping up onto the screen before being replaced. A small bubble told her that the files were downloading. “Where’s Tony?”

“Mr Stark found a secret door after I analysed the contents of the southwest wall and proceeded to explore,” JARVIS responded in his mechanical like voice. It was funny that she and   
Tony at least, treated JARVIS like a real person. “He seemed very excited.”

Marissa turned to her right, and there was indeed a secret door. Marissa couldn’t help but be excited too. “Yay,” she said happily, beginning to stride towards it. “So what exactly are the walls made of?”

“The wall you are approaching is made of steel reinforcement.”

Marissa peeked around the corner. The corridor behind the secret door was dimly lit and just long enough so that Marissa couldn’t see the end.

“How long has Tony been down there, JARVIS?”

“Approximately seven minutes, Miss Pierce,” he answered. “There have been no distress calls or any noises that I can pick up on. As far as I can tell, nothing is wrong.”

The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. She’d just gotten the most peculiar feeling, as if someone was standing and watching her in the shadows. But when she squinted, nobody was there.

“Is everything alright?” JARVIS asked, grabbing her attention. 

“Fine, JARVIS.” Marissa had a thought. “No one else has gone past you, have they?”

“No, Miss.”

“Then I guess I’ll have to go take a look then,” Marissa muttered, stepping into the corridor.

“Would you like me to inform the team, Miss?”

“I’ll be good,” she said distractedly. “Just stay here, and make sure no one follows.”

##

It didn’t take her as long as she thought to reach the end of the secret passageway. About halfway through, Marissa heard Tony say, “Thor, I’ve got eyes on the prize,” but after that, there was no other sounds.

The secret room was larger than she imagined, almost as big as Tony’s old workshop, but while Tony’s workshop was an ‘organised mess’ thanks to Marissa and Pepper, Strucker’s room had no order or structure to it. The dim lighting illuminated enough of the room for Marissa see bits of twisted metal lying on a workbench. Marissa picked up a piece as she passed by and noticed it was a moulded into a model of a face.

“Artificial intelligence,” Marissa muttered to herself. Suddenly she got very scared. What else were they messing with? Louder she called, “Tony!”

She spun back around, intending to do a three sixty sweep of the room, when she got distracted again. A little squeal escaped her mouth and she stumbled back. On massive racks hanging from the ceiling was one of the most terrible things she’d ever seen in her life. Admittedly, seeing it dead and staring wasn’t as frightening as seeing it swimming through the air towards her at terrifying speeds. Dead or not, the massive alien creature from the Battle of New York was still intimidating.

One she’d slown her breathing, Marissa turned back around to see Tony, standing motionless in front of the artefact that she and the team had been looking for since SHIELD’s fall – Loki’s Sceptre. The blue glow was still emitted when not is use and the point was sharp enough to make Marissa wary, especially when it had been pointed at her chest before. The Sceptre was being held in place by some advanced technology that Marissa didn’t bother trying to understand.

Marissa grinned, her earlier fright from the alien forgotten, as she strode towards Tony and the sceptre. Maybe, after they’d retrieved the artefact, Marissa would be able to go back to her day job that she’d taken up even before she’d officially left SHIELD. Of course, said day job was babysitting Tony, but babysitting Tony including laughing at his sarcastic jokes and accompanying him almost everywhere he went. That and helping Tony clean up his colossal messes.

Marissa placed a hand on Tony’s shoulder, but he didn’t spin around. He didn’t move. He didn’t even blink.

“Tony?”

A shiver ran the length of her spine and Marissa violently spun around. There was nothing there. She could have sworn she’d felt someone right behind her, but the only people in the room were her and the unresponsive Tony. Slowly, cautiously, suspiciously, Marissa turned back around. And when she did, she jolted again.

The entire room was bare – the walls clean and the tables and their cluttered content removed. Even Tony was gone. Marissa sucked in a breath. 

“What the hell?” she whispered.

Was this some kind of illusion? A mind trick? The only problem was getting out. The room looked as if all the exits were sealed. There was no windows. The light seemed to hang in the air above her like a soft, ominous cloud. Marissa would have preferred the darkness to the artificial glow.

Just as suddenly as Tony had appeared, someone else appeared in front her. The sight of them stabbed her with fear.

Marissa had had a close relationship with her cousin Leo when she was younger, despite the fact that he was a few years older than her. They used to play in the fields by her house back in Scotland until she turned twelve and her and parents moved away to America. As the years went by, and the both of them joined different divisions of SHIELD (Marissa having been recruited for a special program at twelve and a half, and Leo earning a few university degrees and joining the science division just before she went into active duty), they began to drift away from each other. That was until SHIELD fell and Leo suffered brain damage caused by a HYDRA traitor.

It had been the worst day of her life when had Coulson had called her. She’d rushed to where they were keeping him, punishing some guy who had tried to stop her from entering the building because she hadn’t had security clearance. She was so preoccupied with her fear that she didn’t even register Coulson’s team in the room as their leader and her long-time friend held her away from the window as she kicked and screamed. She didn’t leave Leo’s side until she absolutely had to.

And Marissa then got the same feeling as she had when she’d watched tubes breathe for him in that hospital bed, as she watched Leo Fitz, standing right in front of her, clutching his chest. She stood paralysed with horror as Leo’s bloody hands drop from his torso, the bright blood seeping over his chest. 

Leo looked at her, just looked at her, his eyes filled with the same panic as hers. He had always been softer then Marissa, so eager to explore and enjoy life, and in that moment, Marissa forgot that Leo was over in America with Coulson and his team. She forgot that it was physically impossible for him to be there. 

So when Leo swayed, and Marissa caught him and sunk to the ground, holding him in her arms, she began to mutter fervently, “No, no, no. Please, God, no. Leo! Leo, keep your eyes open. No, no.”

She patted his cheek sharply a few times as his eyes slid shut. The only sound in the room was her erratic wheezing of her incoming panic attack. Marissa could feel the sticky blood that was coming from one of her own kin seep through to her skin.

There was one last heave. Leo Fitz’s heart gave out. 

Marissa knew she screamed. It was one filled with agony and despair. But all Marissa heard was silence. But it was a silence so loud it flooded her brain. There was no coherent thoughts as she shook and clutched the shell of her cousin.

Shell. Dead. She was holding a dead person. She was clutching it like she could trap his soul inside his body but really, all she was holding was a slab of meat.

Marissa shot off the ground like she’d been burnt. A drop of blood dripped off her index finger and hit the ground. As soon as it did, she was staring at another body lying next to Leo. Tony. Already dead. Marissa began to sob so hard she felt as if her throat was being ripped up.

The sounds from her mouth muffled as she clutched her mouth. Blood was smeared over her mouth but she couldn’t stop looking at Tony. Fury had placed her as Tony’s official caretaker after he had first told him of the Avenger’s Initiative. To keep an eye on the volatile billionaire, he’d said. Marissa would need a hundred hands to count the number of time she had saved Tony, and he had saved her. 

Marissa blinked, and the number of deceased loved ones multiplied by a dozen. Now the ground was littered with the bodies of all her friends and loved ones: the remaining Avengers, Coulson, Fury, Darcy, Pepper, Happy, Jane, Dr Selvig, Lady Sif and the Warrior Three, Maria Hill, and even poor old Peggy Carter, the creator of SHIELD who Marissa visited every fortnight, even though she never remembered.

All dead. All gone. All covered in blood.

That was when the whispers started.

“You did this.”

“It’s your fault.”

“We trusted you.”

The accusing voices whispered from the walls until Marissa couldn’t bear it anymore. She slammed her hands over her ears but even that couldn’t stop the jagged accusations from piercing her where it hurt.

What did she do to deserve this? In a way the answer was simple; she had killed countless people without a second thought. Today, at lease a hundred people were lying on the snowy Sokovian ground because she and the Avengers had wanted to get to the sceptre. Maybe she deserved to get her heart ripped out.   
Just when she thought she couldn’t take it anymore, the whispers stopped. Gradually, Marissa removed her hands from her ears. Her whole body was quaking. The worst of it was over. All that was left was the silence and bodies that were littering the ground.

Marissa took a few deep breaths, sliding her hand down her face. She didn’t know what to do now, but maybe looking away would be a good start.

So she spun around, only to be met with a new horror.

Loki Laufeyson, decked in his green coat and golden helmet, grabbed her by the neck lifting her into the air effortlessly. His sceptre was held in his other palm, as if it had been there all along.

He let out a cruel bout of laughter, the same conceited over confident smile as always was spreading across the face. “I told you,” he said clearly, gleefully. “I told you I’d make you watch everyone one you’ve ever loved die before your eyes, you spineless flake. And it’s all your fault!”

And as quickly as it had all started, it stopped.

She was back where she was standing before, with a startled looking Tony in front of her and the sceptre, not in the hand of Loki, protected by its alien force field. The room was covered in dust again and everything was normal. It wasn’t real. She had daydreamed it all. It could have lasted seconds or hours, but it had felt like an eternity of torment.

“You alright?” Tony asked in a low tone. It wasn’t often that Marissa couldn’t detect even the slightest bit of sarcasm in his voice.

Marissa scrambled for an excuse. “Fine,” she said with fake nonchalance. She nodded towards the sceptre. “I just don’t like that thing. And my shoulder really hurts. Let’s get it out of here.”

Tony didn’t believe her, she could tell, but turned towards the alien weapon anyway and held his hand in the air. In seconds, the hand of his suit came flying towards him and latched itself to his arm. The room was filled with tension and anticipation so strong that every muscle was clenched in her body. Neither of them took their eyes away from the spectre as Tony walked towards it and snatched it from its place on the table.

The only light in the room came from Loki’s Sceptre. They didn’t say a word as they beheld the object that had almost brought about the end of the world, and without them knowing it at the time, still might do it.


	3. Chapter 3

The Quinjet hummed as Marissa rubbed her shoulder gingerly, which Steve had popped back into place a while ago. Of course, her pain paled in comparison to what Clint was feeling, if his moaning was any indication.

Natasha kept checking on him every few minutes or so, same with Steve. Tony was piloting the Quinjet and Thor was just roaming the plane, glancing at the Sceptre every few moments. Bruce was sitting in a secluded corner listening to classical music while looking as if he was trying not to rock like a baby.

In most cases, Marissa would have been up talking to Tony but he would have asked if she was okay and she didn’t like lying to him. She would have caved and told him that every time she blinked she saw them all lying in a pile on the floor, dead. She’d shown enough weakness when she’d fought the Enhanced – who still bugged her. She considered calling Leo but she knew his team was going through a rough patch right now.

Marissa winced as she stood and made her way over to the Sceptre. Every time she moved, her shoulder twinged and the bruises on her back blossomed with pain. Not to mention the split lip that stung whenever she opened her mouth.

The Sceptre didn’t look harmless but it was hard to imagine the extent of the destruction it could do in the wrong hands. Marissa still didn’t lean any closer.

She felt Thor come up beside her. He was too large to not be seen. Natasha and Bruce were talking quietly in their corner. Bruce was always upset after a Code Green.

“It’s hard to imagine that something so pretty can be so deadly,” Marissa mused.

“In my experience, the pretty things are always the deadliest,” he replied. Thor stared at her for what felt like a long time. “I did not expect you do be as dangerous as you turned out to be.”

Marissa smiled humourlessly. “You turned out to be a lot saner than _I_ thought you’d be. You’ve changed a lot since I met you, Thor Odinson.”

“It is a good thing that I met a few people in my exile that helped make me worthy of my title.”

“A title that you rejected might I add. You’re the only person I know who wouldn’t want to be king of Asgard.”

“Well,” he said, without any regret, “as I said: I met a few people. I never did ask you why you were in New Mexico while I was here the first time, Marissa. Were you not you working for Tony?”

“I was, but I was still officially part of SHIELD and much too curious for my own good.” Marissa’s high spirits were beginning to return as she took a trip down memory lane. “Coulson and I were close – he trained me, you see – and when he called to tell that he’d found an 084 and wanted me to come out, I did.”

“An 084?”

“An Object of Unknown Origin,” she answered with a smirk. “For example, a mysterious hammer with Nordic engravings that falls from the sky and can’t be lifted, counts as an 084.”

“Ah, so that is why your people were there at the same time I arrived?” he asked with sudden understanding.

“It is. Of course, it was only Fate that I entered the same coffee shop as Jane, Selvig and Darcy were feeding you at. I got there just in time to watch you smash a mug and ask for another.”

Thor’s mouth pinched with shame as he remember his entitled demeanour back then. “Yes, well…”

“I’ve seen Marissa do worse,” Steve butted in, coming to stand on her other side.

“I call bullshit,” she scoffed.

“I’ve seen you snap SHIELD equipment in half because it was outdated, and then proceed to beat the person who gave it you up,” he said. Both men had hints of a smile.

Marissa rounded on Steve. “First things first: Jasper Sitwell deserved more than a kick in the balls. And I only did it because he was purposely giving me the crappiest equipment so I’d screw up the mission. Stop laughing at me. He was almost as crazy as _Hail Hard Drive_.” She said the last bit with a German accent.

“Who is ‘Hail Hard Drive’?” Thor asked, confused.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know,” Steve answered. “And he was Swiss not German.”

“Doesn’t make him any less batshit crazy.”

“Thor, report on the Hulk,” Natasha calls, interrupting Steve’s next sentence.

Thor adopted an enthusiastic expression as he turned towards Natasha and Bruce and said with his fist raised, “The gates of Hel are filled with the screams of his victims.” Bruce groaned and hid his face in his hands. Natasha gave Thor a look that could kill as Steve and Marissa suppressed their smiles. Thor backtracked. “Not the dead of course. Wounded screams! Mainly whimpering, uh… a great deal of complaining and tales of strange deltoids and, uh… gout.”

Thor turned back to Steve and Marissa, the latter of which was trying to control the shaking of her shoulders.

“Hey, Banner?” Tony started from his seat at the controls. “Doctor Cho’s in in from Seoul. Is it okay if she sets up in your lab?”

“Uh, yeah, she knows her way around.”

Tony mumbled his thanks and muttered something intelligible to JARVIS before saying, “JARVIS, take the wheel.”

“Yes, sir. Approach vector is locked.”

The pilot seat glided away smoothly from the glass. Tony hit a button, next to a bumper sticker that claimed, ‘JARVIS is my co-pilot’, before coming over to stand on Thor’s other side.

“Feels good, yeah?” Tony asked, gazing between Thor, who was looking pensive, and the glowing sceptre. “We’ve been after this thing since SHIELD collapsed. Not that I haven’t enjoyed out little raiding parties,” he finished quickly.

“No, this, this brings it to a close,” Thor said.

Marissa shifted so her back was to the sceptre and she was leaning on the edge of the table. Steve looked at her sharply as she hissed in pain. One arm twinged painfully as she shifted her weight to her other arm, cradling the injured one to her chest.

“Until we find out what else this has been used for,” Steve said, nodding towards the sceptre. “And I don’t just mean weapons. Since when is Strucker capable of human enhancement?”

“Oh joy,” Marissa said sarcastically, frowning at the mention of the mysterious ‘Twins’. “More problems.”

“Banner and I will give it the once over before you take it back to Asgard, is that cool with you?” Tony asked in a rush. Thor nodded slowly. “Just a few days before the farewell party.” There was a pause. “You’re staying right?”

“Yes, yes, of course,” Thor agreed. “Victory should be honoured with revels.”

Tony braced his hands on the table top. “Yeah, who doesn’t love revels? Captain?”

“Hopefully this puts an end to both the Chitauri and HYDRA,” he said, a smirk creeping onto his face, “so, yes, _revels_.”

“What about you, Doom-and-Gloom? Up for a party? You can wear one of the thousand dresses I’ve bought you that you’ve never worn in the past four years” Tony asked her.

Marissa bit back her nasty retort. “After a nice, long nap? Yes.” She turned to Steve. “You inviting Wilson?”

Steve looked at her knowingly. “I was planning on it. Why?”

“No reason.”

“Is my company not good enough for you, Pierce? Hmm?” Tony butted in.

Marissa pretended to think it over. “Think of it this way, Tony: chocolate cake is good is small doses but if you eat too much, you end up being the fat guy at McDonalds. Right now, I’m the fat guy covered in cake at McDonalds.”

“Aww. You’re comparing me to chocolate cake. How nice.”

##

Marissa hung back as Natasha and two of Dr Cho’s people wheeled Clint off the Quinjet and into their genius of a head doctor metaphorically open arms. She had intended to accompany them seeing as it was partly her fault that Clint was hurt but a text from Leo had distracted her.

‘ _Everyone back at SHIELD base, safe and sound. We managed to get both the powered person, Lincoln, and Mike out alive. Gonzales and Coulson have stopped arguing for now. No word on Skye,’_ his text said. Twenty seconds after it was followed with, ‘ _And don’t feel bad for not being able to come and help. Avengers business takes top priority. I’ll keep you updated. Stay safe.’_

Marissa couldn’t help a small grimace as she readjusted her arm to reduce the aching. Didn’t work. She’d have to get Dr Cho to take a look once she’d finished with Clint. Marissa didn’t bother texting Leo back. If she had to use a cell phone at all, she’d call, not text.

“Lab’s all set up boss,” said ex- agent Maria Hill as she strolled onto the jet, passing by Thor on his way out.

Tony spun his chair around, finishing fiddling with the controls. “Uh, actually he’s the boss,” he said, pointing lazily at Steve who was still grabbing his things. “I just pay for everything and design everything and make everyone look cooler.”

Marissa pushed herself up off the chair with a roll of her eyes, Tony and Steve copying her.

“What’s the word on Strucker?” Steve asked professionally.

“Natives got him.”

“The enhanced?”

Marissa perked up and moved towards Steve and Hill. She was willing to bet that it wasn’t the last time they’d see the ‘Twins’ and to be able to beat the quick guy to a pulp with her usual flair, she’d have to learn more about him.

“Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. Twins,” Hill informed them, handing Steve a tablet with a video playing. Marissa placed her good hand on Steve’s shoulder, peeping over to watch the clip of the twins shouting passionately amidst a crowd of people. Considerately, Steve angled the tablet so she could get a better look. “Orphaned at ten when a shell collapsed their apartment building.” Hill swiped to the left and they were graced with an image of a crumbling building, like she’d said.

Marissa muttered that she’d be back in five and accompanied Steve and Hill into the building.

“Sokovia’s had a rough history. It’s nowhere special but it’s on the way to everywhere special.”

“It can’t be that special if I’ve never heard of it before yesterday,” Marissa commented as they rounded a corner. She was ashamed to say that the evidence of her pain was slowly beginning to creep into her voice, making her sound angry and strained.

“You’d think,” Hill responded, sounding just as annoyed.

“Their abilities?” Steve asked.

Hill took a breath and said, “He’s got increased metabolism and improved thermos-homeostasis. Her thing is electrical interfacing, telekinesis, metal manipulation…” Steve stared at her blankly. “He’s fast and she’s weird,” she summarised.

Steve handed her the tablet back, pressing the elevator button and stepping in. “Well, they’re going to show up again.”

“Agreed. File says they volunteered for Strucker’s experiments.”

Marissa did a double take. “You’re joking. They agreed to be tortured with a magical alien space spear?”

“Its nuts,” Hill agreed.

“Right,” Steve said his expression hard to read, hitting the floor number, eliciting a ping. “What kind of monster would let a German scientist on them to protect their country?”

Marissa breathed in sharply, instantly apologetic. “Steve-“

“We’re not at war, Captain,” Hill interrupted her.

“They are.”

The elevator doors slid closed. The two ex-SHIELD agents were left alone.

“Don’t worry,” Hill said. “He isn’t mad.”

The two women spun around and began slowly stroll back to the Quinjet, taking their time to talk.

“Yeah, well…” Marissa brushed it off. “Have you heard from Coulson? Leo told me everyone’s okay but he doesn’t tell his team everything. Not that it’s officially his team anymore.”

“Well, the good news is, Coulson is now Director of SHIELD again,” Hill said. “Bad news is that any and all decisions must be made through a vote of the council.”

Marissa snorted. Hill’s expression remained neutral. She wasn’t kidding. “You’re not serious?” Marissa asked sceptically.

“Oh, I’m serious. Gonzales doesn’t know how to run a secret intelligence organisation any more than a cow can fly. If you tell the entire organisation all the trade secrets it elicits an entire array of problems.”

“Dumbass. I can’t believe Morse is actually following this guy,” Marissa muttered. “When are we getting rid of him and his stupid council?”

“As soon as possible,” Hill said. “Right now, Coulson is working on forming an alliance. Two more things.”

“Oh goody.”

“The first; ‘SHIELD’ is going through a rough patch at the moment and Coulson has listed you as their top asset so expect a call in the next few days. He hopes it’s not a problem and he says to stop calling Agent Fitz when they’re on missions. Your Supervising Officer said this fondly, of course.”

“Of course. He always did have a soft spot for his favourite student,” Marissa said happily. They rounded the corner, the Quinjet entering her line of sight. “What’s the second thing?”

“The second thing is slightly more concerning, although not particularly urgent,” Hill said, lowering her voice. “’The New SHIELD’ managed to get a hand on some of our intelligence. They know about Theta Protocol.”

Theta Protocol: basically the new name for the Avengers Initiative. Only problem with people digging that up was all the secure information in it. Like information on STARK technology, possible location for new bases and training facilities and any and all information on the Avengers and potential new recruits. That was a problem. A big one.

Marissa shifted uncomfortably. “How much about Theta Protocol do they actually know?”

“Not much,” Hill told her grimly. “They only know the name. Problem is, Coulson’s own people no longer trust him. Gonzales is using it to turn them against him, which is why he needs your support now more than ever. An Avenger joining his side is a great motivation, especially since they all love you,” she finished. There was the slightest hint of mockery in her voice.

“You’d be surprised how far idle chitchat and a smile can get you while working at Intelligence agency, of all places,” Marissa joked. “But tell Coulson that he doesn’t even have to ask. Backing him was never a question.”

“Will do.” Hill nodded curtly at her arm. “Get that checked out. I’m sure Dr Cho will me be able to fix it in no time.”

Marissa just dipped her head, before heading over to the Quinjet, stepping inside.

“Hey JARVIS,” Tony starts when he notices her, “how long was Marissa gone for?”

“ _Approximately five minutes, thirty-three seconds and counting, Sir_.”

“You’re late,” he said pointing at her.

Tony was what Marissa liked to describe as a loveable asshole – at least, he was to her. He hardly took things seriously, but it didn’t mean that he couldn’t be. Coulson always said that her love of bad boys was the thing that would get her killed, but he was wrong. Because she didn’t love bad boys, she just found people like Tony interesting and complicated; they were a puzzle that needed unravelling. And, obviously since they were so close, Marissa had succeeded in the art of understanding Tony Stark. Honestly, it didn’t take her long.

So that was why when he said something brash or rude, she never took him seriously.

“Thirty-three seconds-“

“and counting!”

“- isn’t late, Tony. Besides I wouldn’t have been able to help you pack up much anyway,” she said. If there had been a rock lying around, she would have kicked it.

“How’s your arm?” Tony asked, subdued for now.

“Fine.” Tony raised an eyebrow. “Okay, hurts like a bitch, but I’m dealing,” she admitted.

“Come on,” Tony said, ushering her out of the Quinjet. The hatch shut behind them. “Let’s go get Cho to look at your arm and then you, Banner and I are going to take a look at the Tesseract.”

“You mean, you and Banner are going to take a look at the Tesseract and I’m going to spend that time in my corner at the lab playing Geometry Dash?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I meant.”


End file.
